


Braids

by Onehelluvapilot



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Awesome Leia Organa, Braids, Female Friendship, Feminism, Gen, Hair Braiding, Space Mom Leia Organa, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22406245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot
Summary: I've been doing my hair up in a lot of Princess Leia styles recently, so this was inspired by that and by the realization that Lieutenant Connix was played by Billie Lourd, Carrie Fisher's daughter.
Relationships: Kaydel Ko Connix & Leia Organa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Braids

Kaydel Ko Connix sighed in disappointment when she caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror and noticed the state of disarray her hair had fallen into. One of her buns had snagged on the edge of a comm’s panel that she’d been working to repair from underneath, and the hair on that side of her head was now uncontained and distinctly unprofessional, what with the flyaways going everywhere. There was no way she could get it back under control without a comb and several dozen bobby pins, which she would have to return to her quarters to find. Given that it was several hours yet until her lunchbreak, she decided to just let her hair down. It would be frizzy, sure, and she hated wearing it down, but it was better than only half up.

General Organa came in when she was fighting with the rubber band holding her intact bun together. “Need some help there?” the older woman asked with a chuckle.

“No, it’s, I’m okay, I can figure it out, I'll just let it down."

"I can tell that you hate having your hair down as much as I do."

"I- I'm sure you have more important things to do than braid my hair, General," Kaydel stammered.

“Connix, if you don’t want me to fix your hair, I understand, but to be honest, you’d be doing me a favor by allowing it.” There was the former ambassador’s diplomatic side coming through. “My own hair has become thin as well as gray, and that, combined with my old joints preventing me from reaching above my head for long periods of time, means that I haven’t been able to do my hair in one of the more elaborate styles I once loved, and I miss it. So if you want me to put your hair up, it would be my pleasure.”

“I- Okay,” the lieutenant agreed quietly.

“Okay. Let’s go find a place to sit down.”

Leia led the way out of the bathroom and found an out-of-the-way crate that she could sit down and Kaydel could sit on the ground in front of her without blocking any hallways. The older woman pulled a small wooden comb out of her pocket along with several pins and hairties. If Connix hadn't known better, she would've thought she had been desperate for the opportunity to braid someone’s hair. Maybe the Force had told her to expect it. The young lieutenant nervously ran her hand through her hair once before she sat down and surrendered her fate to General Organa.

“So, I’m thinking a crown braid, how does that sound?” Leia suggested, already combing Connix’s hair and dividing it up for the style. “I know it’s not what you normally do, but I found that it kept my hair together better than buns, especially in situations where it was likely to get snagged on things.”

“Uh, sure.”

The women sat silently as Leia began the braid. It reached halfway around Kaydel’s head before she spoke.

“You know, when I first got pregnant, I prayed for twins,” General Organa said softly. Connix instinctively held her breath, as if by daring to exhale she would interrupt the forthcoming personal revelation. To Kaydel, like to so many of her generation, Princess Leia was a heroine and role model. She’d heard every story about the defeat of the Empire, collecting them in her mind like baseball cards. Though she wasn’t particularly interested in politics, she had learned about Leia’s work as an ambassador and figurehead, rebuilding the Senate and the New Galactic Republic. What Connix did not know, however, was anything about Leia’s personal life between the end of the Rebellion and the forming of the Resistance.

“I wanted one little girl and one little boy, and I wanted to raise them together like Luke and I hadn’t been,” Leia continued. “I wanted to be able to teach my daughter how to braid her hair, like my mother Breha had taught me.”

“It’s important to you, then,” Kaydel said softly. “Your hair, I mean.”

“Yes. I remember being a little girl and my mom letting me do my hair for a ceremony for the first time. I have no doubt that it was awful, completely covered in flyaways, probably not even recognizable as whatever style I had been going for, but when my dad came in he told me he thought it looked amazing and how it reminded him of an old friend. I know now that he meant my birth mother, Padme. I guess elaborate hairstyles run in my family, both adopted and birth.”  
“Too bad Luke never did his hair up,” Kaydel said, almost without thinking. “I would have liked to see him in a ponytail.” There was silence between the two women. Oh Light, she shouldn’t have said that. Not only did it probably bring up bad memories for General Organa of her deceased brother, but it was direspectful to the savior of the galaxy and the second-to-Last Jedi.

But then Leia laughed. “I never thought both my son and brother would grow their hair out longer than mine,” she said, voice full of both mirth and sorrow. “I would have loved to braid their hair, had they let me. For now though, I guess I’ll have to settle for you, Rose, and Rey.” On that note, she finished tying off Kaydel’s new crown braid. The younger woman reached up tentatively to feel it, and smiled as she stood up and turned around to face the General.

“Thank you,” she said genuinely. The braid pulled all her hair much closer to her head than her buns did, which would make it far less likely to snag on things and ruin itself.

“You haven’t even looked at it yet,” Leia teased, standing up more slowly and picking up her cane from where she had rested it against the wall. “Go check it out in the mirror before you thank me.”

“Yes ma’am,” the lieutenant agreed, nodding at the General before heading back towards the bathroom. As expected, the braid looked wonderful, mirroring Leia’s own carefully contained gray updo. She knew she would have to learn how to do this style herself and wondered if it would be inappropriate to ask the older woman to teach her.  _ I’ll ask her tomorrow,  _ Kaydel decided, before returning to work.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have thoughts about the fic or Princess Leia hair, drop a comment. I love to read them.


End file.
